new inmate has arrived to-day, who, judging by the expression of Miss Shaw's face, when she first saw him in a picture-gallery this morning, is not very welcome. What do you say to Lord Robert Elton? How did he learn Miss Shaw was in Paris? For I feel confident it is in pursuit of her he is come. Chance has befriended him. He happened to meet her, and has now secured a room in this pension. I believe you support his suit; but, to tell you the truth, I do not think he has the ghost of a chance. I hope to have a much better report of you in reply to this. But, whether jou are better or not, let me repeat that I am ready to return at once, if you wire that you wish for me.
And in this he was quite sincere. All that he had he owed to his uncle, and he was really fond of the old man. This did not prevent his hatching a plot which he knew Mr. Twisden would never sanction. But it impelled him to write as he now did, offering to return at onoe; though, if this offer had not been prompted by genuine feeling, in the first instance, the wisdom of the serpent once again would have suggested, as it now ratified, the propriety of the step. The capture of Elizabeth was only a possibility; he did not deceive himself on this head. The succession to Mr. Twisden was a certainty, if he and his uncle remained on the close terms they were now on.
Madame Martineau was in the seventh heaven at her last remaining room being taken. In honour of the new boarder she put a fresh mauve riband into her cap, and
